Tipperary GAA

:"For more details of Tipperary GAA see Tipperary Senior Club Football Championship ,Tipperary Senior Club Hurling Championship, Tipperary Senior Club Hurling Championship 2006 or Tipperary Senior Club Hurling Championship 2007."

infobox GAA county
county gaa = Tipperary GAA
crest =
irish = Tiobraid Árann
province = Munster
nickname = The Premier County
Tipp
The Home of Hurling
county colours = Blue and Gold
grounds = Semple Stadium, Thurles
dominant sport = Hurling
nfl div = Division 3
nhl div = Division 1
football champ = Sam Maguire Cup
hurling champ = Liam McCarthy Cup
ladies football = Brendan Martin Cup
camogie = O'Duffy Cup
pattern_la=_yellowshoulders|pattern_b=_yellowhorizontal |pattern_ra=_yellowshoulders
leftarm=0000ff |body=0000ff |rightarm=0000ff |shorts=FFFFFF |socks=0000ff
|The Tipperary County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( _ga. Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Tiobraid Árann) or Tipperary GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Tipperary. The county board is also responsible for the Tipperary inter-county teams.

County Tipperary holds an honoured place in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association as the organisation was founded in Hayes' Hotel in Thurles on November 1, 1884.

Tipperary GAA are currently sponsored by Enfer.

Hurling

History

Together with Cork and Kilkenny, Tipperary is one of hurling's so-called "Holy Trinity." They are the third most successful team, having won 25 All-Ireland titles as of 2008. They have also achieved the coveted distinction of twice winning three All-Ireland Finals in a row (1898, 1899, 1900) and (1949, 1950, 1951). The Tipperary team of the 1960s is considered one of the greatest of all time.

Tipperary is known as 'The Premier County'. The county has achieved many firsts in the world of GAA.
*They were the first team to win the All Ireland senior hurling title in 1887 against Galway.
*The first GAA president was a Tipperary man named Maurice Davin, from Carrick-on-Suir, in south Tipperary.
*Tipperary won the first Under 21 All Ireland in 1964.
*The first club to win the All Ireland club title was Roscrea, a club in north Tipperary.
*The first GAA Congress was held in Thurles.
*The first autobiography of a hurler was that of Tommy Doyle 'A lifetime in hurling', which was published in 1955.
*They also are the only team in hurling history to win an All Ireland in every decade.

They dominated hurling at the beginning, winning seven out of the first 15 All Irelands and all seemed great. By the end of the 1940s, they had fallen on lean times, winning just three of the previous twenty All Irelands, but this was not caused by failure to get good hurlers. They had been overshadowed by the great Kilkenny team of the 20's, the legendary Limerick team of the 30's and the even more incredible Cork team of the 40's (who won the first and only All Ireland hurling four in a row). But in 1941, 50 and 51, they replicated what the other teams took twenty years to achieve. This was because of the great players, some of whom would appear in the year 2000 on the hurling Team of the millennium. John Doyle, Tony Reddin, Mickey 'The Rattler' Byrne and Tommy Doyle were just some of these Tipperary legends. They contested evenly with Cork and Kilkenny till the 1960s, in which was considered the greatest Tipperary team in history. This included the legendary Jimmy Doyle of Thurles Sarsfields. He would prove to be Tipps greatest forward of all time. He achieved nearly everything in hurling and holds some records. He is only one of four people to captain The county Seniors and Minors to an All Ireland victory (the rest are fellow clubman Tony Wall, Cork's Sean Condon and Kilkenny's Brian Cody) He (plus clubman Michael Craddock) are the only players to win three All Ireland Minor titles. He is the only player to be in four minor All Ireland hurling finals.

As said, this Tipperary team was unstoppable. Their full back line of John Doyle, Keiran Carey and Michael Maher is one of the greatest in history, it's nickname was 'Hell's Kitchen.' Had they not had an off-day on the Munster final in 1963, it's likely that Tipp would have won an unprecedented five All Ireland's in a row. If Waterford hadn't beat them, it's unlikely that eventual champions Kilkenny would have stood in their way. In 1964 and 1965, including the notably one sided final against Kilkenny in 64, nobody managed to give Tipp a decent game. In 1964, the closest anyone came to Tipp was fourteen points, in 1965 it was twelve. In 1971, not even the greatest hurling pessimist would have predicted that after Tipp won the All Ireland, they wouldn't see another All Ireland title in 18 years. It's not that between 1972 and 1986 that Tipp had not got the breaks with the big boys or they had been narrowly been missing out on provincial honours. Most days, they were hardly at the races at all.But this all changed thanks to 'Babs' Keating. They won the Munster final 1987. It was an historic moment in Tipperary hurling. For the next few years, they won 4 more Munsters and two All Irelands and in 1991 competed in what was said to the greatest ever hurling match, against Cork, which took a last minute point to tie it up to bring it to a replay and then a brilliant re-encounter in Thurles. In 2001, The star of the last team, Nicky English went on to manage Tipp to the National league, Munster and All Ireland in 2001, just when rumours of another famine were coming. In 1971, Tipp had the most All Irelands with 22 All Irelands. After 18 years of nothing, they were still second place, which proves that they are and always will be a dominant force in Hurling. They have three players on the Team of the millennium,, Tony Reddin (Keeper), John Doyle (Left Full Back) and Jimmy Doyle (Right Full Forward).

The 2008 Hurling Year

2008 Marked out another great year for Tipperary Hurling. They started out Retaining their Waterford Crystal Cup and going on to win the National League against Galway. They then entered the Championship against old Rivals Cork, this was to be one of the games of the year. Tipp beat Cork and went on to face Clare, who had knocked out former champions Waterford and 2007 Ireland Finalist, Limerick. Tipp started out great and at half time led by a substansial amount of points. But Clare came back to two 3 points as Tipp fell asleep but were just too good and raced away to another Munster title. The Minors were beaten in the Munster final against Cork, the Intermediate against Limerick and Tipp beat Clare in a very Controversial game in the U-21 final against Clare. Tipp were now in their first Semi final since 2002 and were real favorites against Waterford. But Tipp fell to a better more experienced Waterford team. the week before 3 in a row favorites Tipp were beaten by Kilkenny in the Minor Semi final. Tipp had now only one hurling team left in the championship, the u-21s who are now in the All Ireland final against Kilkenny. The Tipp senior team were unbeaten in all competitions before the Waterford Semi final.

Tipperary Hurling Squad